Former Middlesex Boro Priest Charged With Child Sex Assault

MIDDLESEX, NJ — A Roman Catholic priest who previously served at St. Bartholomew's in East Brunswick and Our Lady of Mount Virgin in Middlesex was taken into custody Wednesday night in Ocean County.

He is charged with three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a minor between 13 and 16 years old, according to MyCentralJersey.com.

The priest is Patrick Kuffner, 72. Three different people have now come forward against Kuffner, saying he sexually abused them more than 30 years ago, when they were young teenagers. The sexual assaults occurred when Kuffner was a layperson (before he came a priest) and occurred in Massachusetts, the diocese of Metuchen said in a statement.

Kuffner is accused of sexually assaulting the three young teens in the early '80s, in Hampden County, Massachusetts.

“First and foremost, our prayers are with the person who came forward last year with these allegations, after many years of carrying this burden, and all those who are survivors of sexual abuse,” said Anthony P. Kearns III, Esq., spokesperson and chancellor of the Diocese of Metuchen.

“While the alleged crimes date back to the early 1980s, more than 35 years ago, and involve an incident from before Fr. Kuffner was a priest or even a seminarian, the charges are nevertheless shocking and are being taken seriously by the Diocese of Metuchen," he said.

Kuffner was ordained as recently as 2002. He has since been removed from ministry and is no longer working as a Catholic priest.

“Father Kuffner is on a leave of absence and cannot function as a priest,” said Kearns. “No cleric in the Diocese of Metuchen who has had a credible accusation of child sexual abuse is in active ministry."

As soon as the charges were made known to the Metuchen diocese, the church reported them to the Middlesex County Prosecutor's office, Kearns said.

“The diocese, as a matter of a strictly adhered to policy, reports every accusation to the appropriate county prosecutor’s office, regardless of when or how long ago the abuse is alleged to have occurred and whether or not the accused is living or deceased,” Kearns said.

“As in all circumstances involving the protection of young people, the Diocese of Metuchen has been fully cooperating with law enforcement and, in particular, the Hampden County District Attorney’s Office, which has jurisdiction over this matter,” said Kearns.

Kuffner also worked at Queenship of Mary in Plainsboro.

Patch wrote about Kuffner earlier this year, when he was named on this list the Metuchen archdiocese released in February 2019: In total, 186 priests were named as having "credible" sexual assault allegations made against them in the past seventy years or so. The Trenton diocese and Newark diocese released similar lists.

He is currently in the Ocean County jail and is being held there without bail.

186 priests in total across New Jersey:

The list of priests released by the Trenton archdiocese: https://dioceseoftrenton.org/d...

The list of names released by the Newark archdiocese: https://healing.rcan.org/uploa...

The list of names released by the Metuchen archdiocese: https://diometuchen.org/clergy...